Coal moistener for stokers



1,698,31 l N. M. LOWER COAL MOISTENER FOR STOKERS Filed June 4, 1926 4 Sheets-Sheet 1" N. M. LOWER COAL MOISTENER FOR STOKERS Filed Jun 1926 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 N. M. LOWER 7 GOAL MOISTENER FOR STOKERS Filed June 4, 1926 4 Shqets-Sheet 4 Patented Jan. 8, 1929.

UNITED STATES.

PATENT OFFICE.

NATHAN M. LOWER, 0F PT'ITSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR, IBY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, TO THE STANDARD STOKER COMPANY INC., OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A COR- PORATION OF DELAWARE.

COAL MOISTENER FOR STOKERS.

Application filed June 4,

This invention relates to stoking mechanisms for locomotives and has for its principal objects to permit the fuel to be moistened before it reaches the fire box; to permit the steam, or water, used for moistening the fuel to be controlled and varied to suit the conditions; to permit the exhaust steam to be diverted into the conveyor mechanism or allowed to escape through the stack in quantities suited to the condition and quantity of fuel; to provide mechanism for performing these functions that may be easily applied to. existing machines and will be conveniently accesslble to the fireman.

Further objects and advantages of the 1nvention will appear as the disclosure proceeds and the description is read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig, 1 is a rear elevation of a locomotive equipped according to the invention;

Fig. 2 is a section taken on the line 2-2 of'Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary section of one of the elevators taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of the valve mechanism with the valve casing shown in vertical section and the valve in position to allow all of the exhaust steam to pass to the stack;

Fig. 5 is a similar view with a valve in positlon to send all of the exhaust steam to the conveyor mechanism;

Fig. 6 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 4:;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged view of a portion of the valve mechanism taken on the line 7-7 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 8 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 88 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 9 is a transverse sectional View taken on the line 9-9 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 10 is a side elevation'of the valve casing; I g

Figs. 11 and 12 is a composite sectional view indicating corresponding positions of the valve and the valve, handle by which it is rotated; 1 Fig. 13 is a perspective view of the handle for raising the valve; Fig.14 is aperspective view of a sleeve 1926. Serial No. 113,798.

cooperating with the two handles of the Valve mechanism, and

Fig 15 is a perspective view of the valve proper.

The general organization is shown in Fig. 1, where 10 indicates the back head of a locomotive boiler, 11 the deck and 12 the side walls of the locomotive cab. The stoker mechanism includes a base casting 13 forming the juncture between a substantially horizontal screw conveyor 14 for bringing coal from the tender (not shown) to the 10- comotive, and two screw elevators 15, extending upwardly along the back head to a suitable hcight for scattering the coal over the grates (not shown).

The conveyor is driven by an engine 16 located at one side of the locomotive below the deck]O of the izib and connected with'the screws $111133 e earin enerall indicated b 1.7. g y

The exhaust from the engine 16 is dellvered to a pipe 18 which, together with pipes 19, 20, and 21, forms passages leading from the exhaust chamber of the engine to the elevators 15 and to the stack of the locomotive (not shown). The flow of steam through these passages is controlled by a valve mechanism generally indicated at 22.

This mechanism includes a casing 23, Fig. 10, and a valve 24: (Fig. 15) mounted to reciprocate therein under the control of a handle 25 (Figs. 1, 5 and 7) and to rotate therein under the control of a handle 26 (Figs. 4, 5, 8, 11 and 12). Generally speaking, upward motion in these drawings serves to out off the exhaust from the stack, and

rotation ofthe valves-serves to .admit it to the elevators and proportion the relative amounts admitted.

Referring to Figs. 1, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11 and 12, steam from the engine is admitted to the valve casing 23 through the tapped'openings 27, passes into the Valve chamber 28, out

through one of two tapped openings 29 to chamber 28. The bores 34 communicate with the bores and 31 through the chambers 36 and 37, (Figs. 9, 10 and 11) which are separated by a partition 38 and connected with the bore through passages 39 divided by ribs 40 which cooperate with the semicircular portion 41 and the partition 38 to hold the piston rings 42 in place.

The valve 24 (Fig. 15) has a stem 43 which is connected by universal joints 44 and with a rod 46 which is slidably mounted'in a sleeve 47 and is prevented from rotating in the sleeve by a key 48, slidably mounted in a key-way 49. This rod is raised and controlled by a D-shaped handle 25 fixed to a sleeve 51 swivelly mounted on the rod between shoulder 52 and the nut 53. This handle carries a finger 54 (Fig. 13) adapted to engage with one of a series of notches 55 to hold the valve at the desired elevation. A spring 59 assists gravity in holding the finger 54 engaged with the notch and thus serves to hold the valve in the desired position.

. The sleeve 47, which it will be remembered, is secured against rotation relatively to the rod 46 by the key 48, is mounted to rotate in a bracket 56 by having a cylindrical portion 57 (Fig. 7) journaled therein and made fast .by a nut 58. The'bracket 56 is mounted on a fixed support as, for example, the back head 10 of the locomotive, which carries an angle bracket 60 at a convenient position.

The handle 26 is pivoted on the sleeve 47 at 61 and has a pawl finger 62 adapted to cooperate with the rack 63 on the bracket 56 and a spring 64 (Figs. 4 and 5) serves to hold the pawl in engagement with the rack and thus keep the valve in the desired angular position.

When the valve is in the position shown in Fig. 4,all the steam (or the water, in case the valve is used to control water) passes to the stack (or other receptacle in case of water). By grasping the handle 25 raising it and rotating it to the position s own in Fig. 5, the valve is raised to the position shown in that figure in which the lower piston element 32 enters the bore of the partition 65 in the valve chamber and cuts off the pipe 21 (Fig. 1). Then, by means of the handle 26,'the sleeve 47 may be rotated and the semi-circular skirt 66 on the upper piston element (Fi 15) may be set in the position shown in Fig. 9, permitting free and equal flow to each of the elevators, or the position shown in Fig. 11 permitting fiow to one elevator only, or the position shown in Fig. 12 permitting fiow to the other elevator, or a position permitting any desired division of the flow between the two elevators, or a position opposite to that shown in Fig. 9, in which the flow is cut off altogether.

The upper end of the casing 23 (Fi 4 and 10) is provided with an index 67 igs.

space the elbows upwardly from the openings 73, by which the steam or water is admitted to the casing 72. This has the effect of offsetting the passage for the moistening fluid and thereby providing a sort of trap to prevent fine coal and dust irom clogging the passages. The jackets 71 are provided with movable plugs 74 to admit a rod forclearing the traps. As shown, the plugs are directly opposed to the openings 7 3, but they may be arranged so as to permit a rod to pass through the jacket alongside the casing and in a variety of other ways that will readily occur to those using the invention.

I claim as my invention: 1. In a locomotive stoker of the type wherein coal is advanced by a conveyor driven by a steam engine, the combination of passages connecting the exhaust chamber of the engine w1th the conveyor and the locomotive stack, a valve mechanism for controlling the flow of steam in said passages including a valve casing communicating at different elevations with the passages, a valve rotatable in and movable lengthwise in the casing, means on the valve for opening and closing certain of said 7 passages by lengthwise movement and means on they valve for opening and closing .certain of said passages byrotative movement.

2. In a. locomotive stoker of the type wherein coal is advanced by a conveyor driven by a steam engine, the combination of passages connecting the exhaust chamber of the engine with the conveyor and the locomotive stack, a valve mechanism for controlling the flow of steam in said passages including a valve casin communicatmg at different elevations wit the passages,

.a valve rotatable in and movable lengthwise in the casing, a piston on the valve adapted to close certain of said passa es when moved lengthwise to the casing and a skirt on said valve adapted to close certain of said passages when rotated in the casing.

3. In a locomotive stoker, the combination of a fuel conveyor, a steam engine 'driving1 the conveyor, passages connecting the ex aust chamber of the steam engine with the conveyor andthe locomotive stack, a.

casing communicating with the passages and a valve movable in the casing to control the" flow of steam in said passages.

4. In a locomotive stoker, the combination of a fuel conveyor, a steam engine drivin the conveyor, Ipassages connecting the ex aust chamber 0 the steam engine with the conveyor and locomotive stack, a casing communicating with the passages and a valve in the casing adapted to control certain of the passages by lengthwise movement and other of thepassages by rotative movement, means for moving the valve lengthwise and means to rotate the valve.

5. In a locomotive stoker of the type wherein a steam engine drives a pluralit of elevators for raising coal above the dec from the transfer mechanism below the deck, the combination of passages connecting the exhaust of the engine with each of the elevators and with the locomotive stack, a valve casing interposed between the engine and the elevators in the stack, a valve in the casing for controlling each of said passages and varying the relative amounts of steam permitted to flow therethrough.

6. In a locomotive stoker, a fuel conveyor, an engine for driving the conveyor and means for conducting the exhaust to the conveyor or the stack, including a valve casing, a valve mounted to reciprocate and rotate in the casing, a handle adapted to reciprocate the valve and a second handle adapted to rotate the valve.

7. In a locomotive stocker, a fuel conveyor including a casing having an opening therein, and means for supplying moisture to the fuel within the' casing, including a passage connecting the casing with the source of supply, said passage being offset adjacent to the casing and provided with means to permit access to the offset portion for cleaning.

8. In a locomotive stoker, a fuel conveyor including a casing having an opening therein, and means for supplying moisture to the fuel within the casing, including a cap secured to the casing having a cavity of greater area than the opening and a pipe connected with the cap out of line with the opening in the casing.

9. In a locomotive stoker, a fuel conveyor including a casing having an opening there intake and a plurality of discharge open- I ings, a rotatable and longitudinally movable valve in said casing, and means for moving said valve 'to place said intake opening selectively in communication with said discharge openings.

In testlmony whereof I aifix my signature hereto.

NATHAN M. LOWER. 

